


Knocking Down My Sternum

by vintagejoly (ella1673)



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, fake names for space so I didn't have to look up things, minor descriptions of serious injury, this centres quite heavily around the major character death, very minor so should be fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 12:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9234557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ella1673/pseuds/vintagejoly
Summary: "P-3?" Enjolras asked, and got nothing.“C-1? This is P-4, P-3 essentially just rammed the ship and then jumped into warp at the last minute to avoid the damage.”“Thank you P-4. P-3?” Silence."P-3?" He tried again, "This is C-1 calling P-3, please report."





	

**Author's Note:**

> Oh man I had an actual fic planned for my first fic as part of this fandom, and it was going to be multi-chaptered and cool but writing it is really hard, so I took a break and read loads of Star Wars fics and ended up writing this in about 30 minutes... 
> 
> This isn't actually set in the Star Wars universe, but its that sort of rebellion against an evil empire idea!

The mini explosion of two Imperial ships hitting each other flashed bright blue on Enjolas’ monitor, and he blinked heavily.   
"Well done P-4 and P-3, please don’t do that again." He said, as politely as possible and was rewarded with both Courfeyrac’s and Grantaire’s wild laughter in his ear. He scrutinised his screen a little moment longer, then.  
"P-7, can you keep covering that ship?"  
"Absolutely, C-1"  
"You shouldn’t call him that, Marius. It only encourages him." Grantaire drawled and Enjolras spared a moment to roll his eyes, more fondly than he liked.  
"Yes thank you P-3." He said, smarmily. "P-3, P-4; attack plane to your right."   
There was a grunt over the line before  
"Earlier warning would be nice!" Courfeyrac, said, sounding winded.  
"Sorry P-4." He said, watching the little green dots fly a tangle around the ice blue dot of the imperial attack ship.   
"Hey Courf? Get out the way I’m going to try something."   
"P-3 lease tell me what your going to do before-" Enjolras said, a little panicked, recalling Grantaire’s many previous hair brained schemes, but Grantaire cut him off with a triumphant   
“Too late!”   
Enjolras threw his hands up, and from diagonally opposite Bossuet caught his eye and sniggered. Enjolras, began to smile, before it dropped suddenly away as Grantaire’s green dot abruptly vanished and the blue dot of the attack ship splintered and faded.  
"P-3?" Enjolras asked, and got nothing.   
“C-1? This is P-4, P-3 essentially just rammed the ship and then jumped into warp at the last minute to avoid the damage.”  
“Thank you P-4. P-3?” Silence.  
"P-3?" He tried again, "This is C-1 calling P-3, please report." He waited in silence again, before his fingers scrambled over the keyboard, bringing up the correct programs, seamlessly opening a second frequency   
"This is C-1 calling C-2 and C-5, requesting transfer of P-4 and P-7"  
"This is C-5 taking control of P-4." Cosette’s voice came smoothly in his ear, and Feuilly’s followed milliseconds after hers  
"This is C-2 taking control of P-7."   
Enjolras nodded, and switched off the frequency, keeping only Grantaire’s alive. He typed in his access code into the computer as he tried again.  
"This is C-1 calling P-3, please report." He bit his lips nervously as only silence answered him, the screen in front of his pulsing green as it attempted to locate Grantaire’s ship.   
"P-3 please report." He said, then "Grantaire? Grantaire please come in." His breath sped up, "Grantaire?"  
"Hey," Grantaire’s voice sounded weak and Enjolras desperately hoped that was only due to the static and poor line.  
"Grantaire!" He said, before protocol took over. "Please report location."   
"Not. Not really sure actually."   
Enjolras frowned, annoyed, terrified. "Don’t be silly, it’s right in front of you."   
"Yeah that’s... the dashboards not really working at the moment."   
Enjolras’ heart leapt into his throat. "Define not really working."  
"Well I... I’ve sort of..." Grantaire trailed off, but Enjolras could hear laboured breathing. "Hey Apollo, you remember when I tried to teach you to fly and you refused?" Grantaire said, with a levity that fell flat.   
"Yes." Enjolras said, then tried to match his fake joviality, "You made me go into the warp. Goes right up there alongside fighting off Jyma Raptors as one of the most terrifying experiences of my life."  
He was rewarded with a burst of static Enjolras translated as a tiny laugh. On screen, the pulsing stopped and displayed a small error message. Enjolras savagely pressed ‘try again’.  
"Yeah well, you know how I told you that the first thing they teach pilots about jumping into warp drive is to pull up? Because you’re body tells you to fly down, I don’t know why but. Anyway the pulling up’s so basic they don’t even test for it in the final exam because who the fuck doesn’t pull up before jumping?"  
Enjolras felt his blood turn to ice.  
"Hey Enjolras? Guess who didn’t fucking pull up?"   
Grantaire’s voice broke at the end and Enjolras couldn’t breathe.   
"I’m trying to find where you are, I’ll find you, I’ll bring you home," he whispered, and Grantaire laughed savagely in his ear.  
"I’ve ripped off both the flight engines and most of the body at the back. The cabins crushed to shit and most of the electronics are gone."  
"How much-" Enjolras tried   
"I think" Grantaire interrupted accidentally, then carried on, "I think I’m running out of oxygen, I’m not sure, the emergency controls are confusing."   
Enjolras closed his eyes, and stabbed desperately at the ‘try again’ as it flashed up a second time.  
"That’s okay," Enjolras said, "Just set the emergency oxygen to just above 10% you’ll fall unconscious but it’ll keep you alive the few hours it’d take to being you home " Enjolras said, ignoring that he still had no idea how far away Grantaire was, and that the advice was an ‘optimistic estimate’ at the best of times.  
"Ha. Yeah." Grantaire said, "I don’t think that takes into account the massive beam sticking out my sternum."   
The world shrank.   
"Grantaire" Enjolras managed,   
"I told you the cabin got crushed." Grantaire said, softer. Enjolras listened to Grantaire breathe for a few moments, fingers numb.   
"This is it Enjolras. I’m going to die. Oh God Enjolras I’m going to die with nothing but the vacuum of space and a steel beam for company."  
"You’ve got me." Enjolras said, leaning forward desperately as if that would make Grantaire believe him more. "You’ve got me."  
"You’ve got. Responsibilities. Courf and Marius and things."   
"I’ve handed them off, I handed them off when you cut out, I’m not leaving you Grantaire. I’m not. I’m. I’m staying with you, Grantaire."   
The error message popped up again and Enjolras stared at it for as few seconds, before his fingers remembered how to move.   
"I don’t want to die." Grantaire said, and it was a whisper and a confession, and all Enjolras could do was close his eyes.  
"I don’t want you to die either." He whispered back. "You were going to do so many things, we were going to do so many things."   
Grantaire laughed softly.  
"I was going to take you to the Pheobus Cascade. You’d look so beautiful underneath all those lights."   
"I think I’d like that." Enjolras said.  
"Would you. If I. If a miracle happens, or..."  
"Yes." Enjolras said, and it was loaded with so much more.   
"Really?"   
"Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before I thought you were a distraction I thought I had to win this first, I thought I’d have time afterwards." He said, and the tears flowed down his cheeks like water bursting a dam.   
"I’m sorry." Grantaire said, and Enjolras could tell he was crying too, "I’m sorry it’s ending like this, I’m sorry I’m dying because I fucked up a basic procedure, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,"  
"I’m sorry too," Enjolras replied and he wanted to hold him, to kiss him, to take him away from this awful death in the bleakness of space.   
"It really hurts, Enjolras."   
"I know. I know. It’s okay Aire, it’s okay." Enjolras said and he was lying. Over the line he listened to Grantaire breathe, each breath shallower to an extent he knew he could not longer just put down to crying.  
"Keep talking Grantaire." He begged.   
"I don’t know what to say." And then he laughed, "Hey who knew this is what it would take to get me to shut up, you should’ve tried this earlier."  
"I never wanted you to shut up."   
"Don’t lie to me."   
"No, I meant it. Not really. I always wanted to hear your voice, you just... Sometimes you’d just keep needling me and needling me and I could never work out why and it annoyed me, but. You are so smart and you talk about such incredible things."  
"I can’t believe you’re only telling me this when I’m dying."   
"I’m sorry." Enjolras said and he shut his eyes and folded into himself.   
"It’s. It’s. " Grantaire tried, but his breaths were too shallow and wet.   
"Hey Enjolras? I. I.. I love. Yo-you."  
"I love you too." Enjolras said, with every ounce of his being.   
"D-" Enjolras could hear Grantaire lick his lips and drag up another breath. "Don’t. L. Lie-"  
"I’m not. I’m not lying Grantaire. I love you."   
Enjolras waited and then he realised there was nothing but silence. No trying for speech, no haphazard breathing. Nothing.   
Enjolras opened his eyes and swallowed, hard. He sat up, and saw Feuilly opposite shoot a glance at him and pale. Enjolras nodded, and Feuilly blinked rapidly. Enjolras took off the headset, and looked back at the screen.   
The computer had found him. His little green dot floated somewhere in the Macaria Galaxy, only a few short hours away. Enjolras blinked, then carefully opened another program and entered Grantaire name into the column of the dead.

**Author's Note:**

> I was trying to be literary with the galaxy name, so I looked up Hades' children and Macaria is the goddess of the "blessed dead" and I cried.
> 
> There's definitely an alternate universe where Enjolras finds his ship before R dies and brings him home and R pulls through and spends the rest of the war bitching about how he can't fly and after they win he takes Enjolras out to the Pheobus Cascade and asks him to marry him and all is right with the world.


End file.
